Matchday 6: Starting to take shape

This, my friends, will be the last blog post where you are in the dark over results so far this season. That right there, is a Ricky D Guarantee. I'm returning to London this weekend, and have a very long flight in which I plan to sort out all the stats thus far. Therefore, this time next week, the bragging rights will be up for grabs once again - and I genuinely have no idea how anyone (including myself) has done so far!

The downside of that, is that you must bear with me, yet again whilst I stick up just my predictions - perhaps some of you prefer the waffle-less system, but it's my party and I'll waffle if I want to!

This week, I'm going:

Arsenal vs Chelsea - ARSENAL
Everton vs Southampton - EVERTON
Fulham vs Man City - MAN CITY
Norwich vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL
Reading vs Newcastle - NEWCASTLE
Stoke vs Swansea - DRAW
Sunderland vs Wigan - WIGAN
Man Utd vs Tottenham - MAN UTD (obviously, do Spurs ever do anything else but lose to Man Utd?)
Aston Villa vs WBA- VILLA
QPR vs West Ham - QPR

Total odds from PaddyPower: 3012/1

Just a quick story about a man I met in a pub last week watching the CL matches. He told me he was a Man City fan - I remarked about how unusual that was here (it's almost entirely Man Utd or Liverpool fans) and he told me that he was a Liverpool fan for 20 years, but had switched to City now Liverpool were rubbish...

Still....he bought me a drink, so he's not all bad!

Good luck, enjoy your weekends and check back next week for a mega-stats blog!

Matchday 5: Nice and Early this time!

The thing that was drummed into my head about the Romans when I was a young'un was that the reason their empire was so strong was because they learned from their mistakes.

I always wanted to be a Roman - I liked the idea of wearing sandals and red baggy pants and being paid in salt (running out of Roman stuff now) - and so have taken this maxim on-board and therefore am doing this week's post in good time.

My predictions are as follows:

Swansea vs Everton - DRAW
Chelsea vs Stoke - CHELSEA
Newcastle vs Norwich - NEWCASTLE
Southampton vs Aston Villa - SOUTHAMPTON
WBA vs Reading - READING
West Ham vs Sunderland - WEST HAM
Wigan vs Fulham - FULHAM
Liverpool vs Man Utd - LIVERPOOL
Man City vs Arsenal - DRAW
Spurs vs QPR - SPURS

Total match odds: a ridiculous 39,027/1. Quite hoping that this week is the week I win :D

Just as an aside - I watched the Arsenal match last week in 30-odd degree heat on the beach. That, my friends, is called winning.

Good luck, you know what to do by now.

Matchday 4: A Million Apologies

I'm so so so sorry guys. 42 weeks in and I've majorly dropped the ball. Can't even blame lack of wifi access on this one - it just slipped my mind to do the blog.

Therefore, unless we get more than 10 real players (ie not me and not a website) this week, it won't count towards the league table (when it arrives), out of fairness as I'm sure many people won't have time to do this before the first kick off. Sorry once again.

My predictions are as follows:

Norwich vs West Ham - WEST HAM
Arsenal vs Southampton - ARSENAL
Aston Villa vs Swansea - SWANSEA
Fulham vs WBA - FULHAM
Man Utd vs Wigan - MAN UTD
QPR vs Chelsea - DRAW
Stoke vs Man City - MAN CITY
Sunderland vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL
Reading vs Spurs - SPURS
Everton vs Newcastle - EVERTON

Total odds with PaddyPower: 1482/1

Apologies once again - if Club Impossibilitee could work the magic extra hard this week and make sure everyone sees this late blog, you guys might be able to cover my slip up.

Good luck

Matchday 3: I feel so out of touch

Last Sunday marked my first 90 mins of the season. The 20th match played by my calculations. In a sports mad country that shows 7-8 PL games a week, this is a very poor show. Unfortunately, its not going to change for the next few weeks, and this has left me feeling like I am very out of touch with what's going on!

Apologies if it seems like I'm phoning it in at the minute....WiFi is hard to come by but I promise that there will be a results post (for all weeks) in the next 2 weeks. For now, its just the predictions.

West Ham vs Fulham - Fulham
Swansea vs Sunderland - Draw
Spurs vs Norwich - Spurs
WBA vs Everton - Everton
Wigan vs Stoke - Wigan
Man City vs QPR - Man City
Liverpool vs Arsenal - Draw
Newcastle vs Aston Villa - Newcastle
Southampton vs Man Utd - Southampton (6-3 anyone?)

No odds this week as Paddypower website wouldn't load before my internet timed out!

Sorry this is a bit rubbish atm guys, bear with me for just a few weeks more. When I'm back in Blighty, I'll make it up.

Good luck

Matchday 2: Hopefully this week I'll catch some football

The trouble with having 12GB of internet for a month between 15 people is that it doesn't leave streaming football matches as a realistic option. Consequently, the only football I've seen so far this season was the last 10 minutes of Chelsea vs Reading on Wednesday. Therefore, I can't comment on anything that's happened other than Torres being offside and the whole goalie going up for the corner thing - it works so rarely....what exactly is the point? Jimmy Glass moments are few and far between.

Anyway, I also haven't done any stats from last week because 1) it's tedious through this internet connection and I need to copy and paste it all, 2) I've been busy with trying to find somewhere to live next month last minute in my free time and 3) the numbers have swollen to the extent that I don't know who everyone who played is! That's brilliant, but if possible, could you identify your predictions from last week and use a unique handle in future weeks - either first name & surname or your twitter names - that makes my life so much easier!

Anyway - onto this weeks predictions:

Swansea vs West Ham - DRAW
Aston Villa vs Everton - EVERTON
Man Utd vs Fulham - DRAW
Norwich vs QPR - NORWICH
Southampton vs Wigan - SOUTHAMPTON
Sunderland vs Reading - DRAW
Spurs vs WBA - SPURS
Chelsea vs Newcastle - CHELSEA
Stoke vs Arsenal - ARSENAL
Liverpool vs Man City - MAN CITY

Total odds: 8177/1 with PaddyPower.

Sorry for it being short and sweet, but its 2am and I've just got off a 10 hour shift. I'll try to do a stats post before the 3rd set of predictions.

Good luck!

Back for the new season

Welcome back old friends, and hopefully welcome for the first time to some new players too!

After a summer break to take in the Euros and the Olympics (and from my perspective, to try a pass a bloody difficult set of exams), it's time to get those virtual accumulator forms dusted off and try to show that after a year's practice, this is the year where we, collectively, hit the bookies where it hurts. Failing  that, let's just have some fun!

Quick recap of the rules of the game for those with poor memories/never played before. Before each round of PL games, I'll post a blog up here with the matches and my predictions - either which team I think will win or a draw if that's how I see it going. I'll then put the odds I got for an accumulator bet from a bookie. You do the same in the comments section (without the odds if you're not a gambler) and then I'll do my stats wizardry after the round is completed. 1 point for calling a match correctly, and the weekly scores are accumulated into a league table so you can see how you do against everyone else. I'll also be incorporating the predictions from Mark Lawrenson on the BBC Sport website, and a couple of statistical predictors to see if they're better than our intuitive approach.

Words can be confusing, so to explain above, I'll do my predictions for this opening set of fixtures.

Arsenal vs Sunderland - ARSENAL
Fulham vs Norwich - DRAW
QPR vs Swansea - QPR
Reading vs Stoke - READING
WBA vs Liverpool - LIVERPOOL
West Ham vs Aston Villa - DRAW
Newcastle vs Tottenham - DRAW
Wigan vs Chelsea - CHELSEA
Man City vs Southampton - MAN CITY
Everton vs Man Utd - DRAW

Total odds with PaddyPower: 3309/1

So copy and paste that into the comments section and change the results for what you think will happen.

I'm abroad until the end of September, and have patchy internet access at best so I'm not going to be able to remind/harass you guys like I did last year so if we could foster a "Club Impossibilitee" mentality and remind one another that'd be awesome! Those of you who have each other on Facebook/Twitter, please give everyone a nudge and if you have any friends who'd be interested, then please invite them along. I also can't guarantee that I'll do a stats post every week, but I promise that the predictions will be up, at least 2 days before the matches take place. If you add your twitter names to your predictions this week, then it makes it easier for others to find you and remind you. You'll also get new followers.....and most of you are worth following!

The new season starts here - I'm excited and hoping to pick up where we all left off last year. Good luck guys!

Matchday 38 Results: How about that then?

I grew up watching the 1988/1989 Season Review VHS, resplendent with horrific graphics and a distressingly short pair of shorts on Paul Merson. It meant I was familiar with Mickey Thomas's last minute goal even before I really understood exactly what it meant.

This Sunday, I had a wedding that I had belatedly been invited to. The ceremony started at 3.30. You have to be kidding me I thought. The missus wanted me to drive into town and so I told her that the deal was that no talking whilst the football was on the radio. Apparently missing the ceremony and arriving later after the final whistle was not an option. This is how my afternoon went:

Spurs scored approaching Baker Street. No worries....I was concerned with only one result. A minute later, I got the news I was waiting for. Yossi (accordingy to Radio 5, Gervinho. Idiots) had put us ahead at WBA. Then another goal from the Hawthorns made me punch the steering wheel. Stuck in traffic, moving about 40 metres in 10 minutes and the football going all wrong.

Needless to say, my reaction to going 2-1 down was even less dignified. We then parked up and went in to wait. I would say there were maybe 80 women waiting, and around 15 men, most of whom were over 70. So I settled down, had a look at Twitter - Santos. Boo Ya. Rooney & Zabaleta. Boring...City gonna walk this one. Newcastle collapse - care...it's all about our win. My stomach had woken up in knots, and by this point was doing it's best Red Arrows impression. Half-time - right, I thought, let's get this wedding sorted, you have 15 mins. GOOOOOOOO.

That was wishful thinking. It took over 45 minutes in the end. I (along with 70% of the male guests, who had arrived literally at the last minute) flitted between the ceremony and my phone, subtly located inside my jacket. Koscielny. GTFI. Keep it tight boys.

Ah, balls. I've been clocked and getting the death stare from the missus. Phone into pocket. Come on. come on....yes yes happily ever after. COME ON. Ceremony finishes, and as we head to the reception, I checked the scores. Spurs 2-0. Forget that then. Man Utd still 1-0. City are losing? Lol...but never mind that. We're still 3-2 up. 10 to go. My heart's joined the protest now. I went into the reception and found a corner, all alone.

Gunnerblog tweets "WBA put the ball in the net....offside". My howl of anguish dies in my throat. Full times come in. Bolton are down. Boo Hoo. Spurs win. Newcastle lose. Gibbs makes a block. Twitter goes mad. Must be some block. This is killing me. 5 minutes of injury time. I'm going to explode. Seriously, who puts a wedding during the final matches of the season. 3 to go. City score. Even so, can't believe they bottled it at the last. 2 to go. Free kick to Arsenal in the Arsenal half. Now is the time Szcz, for a yellow for time-wasting. COME ON....I can't refresh fast enough.

FT: WBA 2-3 Arsenal. Ah thank the lord, the tension literally melts away. The breathing gets deeper. My heart slows. We didn't screw it up. Refresh to see the comments.

Shut up. Shut up. No bloody way. Aguero? 2 goals in 4 minutes? City ripping the red ribbons off the trophy, tearing Fergie's hand away like the playground bully....can't touch this. Bloody hell. Amazing. I don't care - we've got 3rd place!!!!

Time for alcohol.

As the comedown continued, it sunk in. City's win wasn't a surprise, but what a manner to do it in. It's been talked to death, but I suppose if you have to wait 44 years for a title, why not do it in a fashion memorable outside your own fans. Cruel on Man Utd, but they've been there before. Spurs fans apoplectic with their season's conclusion. Understandable. A lesson on when to give it out duly delivered by the fat lady. Liverpool, er yeah. 14 losses. More than 1 in 3. Big decision there on Dalglish's future. I'd get rid, but I didn't grow up idolising him. Emery is available after leaving Valencia and I'd go with him.

Chelsea have the chance to ruin Spurs' dreams but I'll be supporting Bayern all the way. If only Fat Frank had told Terry to do one when he asked about lifting the trophy. Norwich did well all season, Wolves shuffled away (great left field appointment by them with Solbakken). Joey Barton is a disgrace and I don't understand why the police rarely get involved in stuff like this.

Enough talking, time for results. It was a record-breaking week this week, fittingly, in many way.

This week, 24 people played (RECORD)

Most popular predicted result: Chelsea WIN (24/24 or 100% concordance)

Most disputed result: Everton vs Newcastle and Swansea vs Liverpool (7-11-6 and 7-6-11split respectively)

Longest odds: Josh Daniels (6166/1)

Shortest odds: Sam Ruback (347/1)

Average odds: 2448/1

Best predictor: JT (9/10) (Levelled RECORD...well done mate!)

Worst predictors: Will O'Doherty, Dan Davis, Naphtali Torrance & Ben Grabiner (5/10 - not bad for the worst performers)

Average Score: A season high 7/10 (6.71/10)

Best predicted result: Chelsea WIN (24/24)

Worst predicted result: Stoke vs Bolton (6/24)

Villain of the week: The only result JT got wrong was the Stoke vs Bolton draw. He went for a Bolton win, and therefore terrible refereeing from Chris Foy (again!) to allow Walters' first goal cost him (and our...shared achievement) a 10, and a win at 1311/1. Is now a good time to mention that I claim 10% of all winnings? Desperately unlucky.

Everyone's results:

As this graph shows, it was a really good week, with everyone outperforming there average. It was great to have so many people play - 34 players in total this season, and if we exclude Sir Bobby Charlton who's unlikely to play every week in future, that's 70% turnout. I'd love to have you all back next season along with any friends you have who may be interested.

To the final leaderboard:

As always, only those who played >2/3 of weeks were eligible, so 26 weeks were needed. Ryan Wain just slipped in, but remained rooted to the bottom. Joe Miller is the inaugral champion, with a score of 5.30, the only regular to get >50% right on average. He's been at the top more or less all season and is a worthy winner. I'm still looking for a not extortionately priced trophy for you. Nick stays in 2nd place, whilst JT and myself share 3rd (I'm higher as I played more weeks). Doron Salomon's 1st week in the table sees him jump into 5th spot, followed by Dan Davis and Yanik Joshi. All of whom beat Lawro over the course of a season.  Joel Salomon and Feneley stagnated somewhat second half, Will O'Doherty will be disappointed to have slipped so far down that Sam Ruback overtook him on games played. My baby brother ensures that family bragging rights stay in their rightful place for another year.

I've also compiled a second table giving everyone's scores who didn't play enough to qualify above. It's ordered by Games Played, and then Score.

Ben Grabiner did pretty well over 16 weeks, as did Jonathan Chernick over 12. WhoScored.com and the EuroClubIndex also looked good - much better than Lawro! (although rounding up/down, they both are only right ~50% of the time). Marc Joss had a great last 3 weeks...let's see if he can reproduce that over a full season and Tharshan Thavagnanam showed his maths brain off...but only over 4 games 'cos he's also a lazy sod.

Thanks to everyone who played at all this year, obviously, this would have been a total flop without your participation and I hope to see you all again, every week next season!

Finally, I'd just like to ask for a little feedback if you have the time, looking to next season already on how to improve this game.

• What was good? What was bad?
• How could this be easier?
• Would you like email notifications? Twitter? Facebook? Too much harassment? Too little?
• If you didn't play that much, why? Was there anything missing for you?
• Would you be prepared to contribute if I looked to build this more? Either skills (ie web stuff) or say £1-2 towards upkeep of a proper purpose-built site?
• Too much waffle from me? 
• What stats would you like to see that weren't provided?
• Cup competitions?

Obviously I don't expect huge reports, just any help you can give me to make this even better would be really appreciated.

Thanks once again guys, I really appreciated all your support throughout. Until next time.